State Would Close Minimum Security Prison To Save Money Under "Plan B'' - Donald T. Bergin prison in Storrs, CT

With the inmate population dropping, the state is planning to close its third prison in 18 months if Gov. Dannel Malloy's "Plan B'' budget cuts are approved.

The Donald T. Bergin Correctional Institution in Storrs would be closed, and the inmates would be sent to other prisons around the state, said Michael P. Lawlor, Malloy's chief budget supervisor on prison and criminal justice issues. The measure is a cost-cutting move that is made possible because the state's prison population has fallen to its lowest level in 10 years.

"It's one of the cheaper-to-run prisons,'' Lawlor told Capitol Watch on Wednesday afternoon. "There are no cells in there. Half is like a college dormitory with big, open rooms and bunk beds. It's a minimum-security prison.''

Bergin is known as a Level 2 facility on a scale that ranges up to 5 for the maximum-security, Super Max prison in Somers that houses death-row inmates and other violent criminals.

By contrast, the prisoners at Bergin are often those convicted of multiple drunken driving offenses and those nearing the end of their sentences.

Bergin had 931 inmates on January 1 and 218 state employees to run the facility. It is on the site of the former Mansfield Training School, which was ordered closed by then-Gov. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. Formerly known as the Northeast Correctional Institution, the prison held 500 criminals in 1999 and then 650 in 2001 following an expansion.

If the "Plan B'' budget cuts are enacted, Bergin would be the third prison to close in about 18 months. The state has already closed Webster in Cheshire, as ordered by Gov. M. Jodi Rell. Malloy has already ordered the closure of Gates prison in Niantic on June 1.

Gates was already slated for closing because of the declining prison population that has now reached its lowest level in 10 years.

"The closing of the Gates Correctional Institution in Niantic will save the taxpayers of the state some $12.3 million a year," Correction Commissioner Leo C. Arnone said when the announcement was made. "Given our state's fiscal concerns, our agency has worked diligently to find efficiencies and consolidations while at the same time insuring the safety and security of our citizens."

Gates, which holds about 700 criminals, is a Level 2, minimum-security facilty. The criminals will be sent to other prisons that have sufficient space around the state - rather than releasing the inmates.

Opened in 1981, Gates has a paid staff of about 270 state employees. The closing plan for Gates does not call for any layoffs of unionized prison guards.

The Gates closing comes in the wake of the January 2010 closing of Webster Correctional Institution in Cheshire, which saved the state $3.4 million per year. With three prisons closed, the state would have 15 correctional facilities.

The overall inmate population is now about 17,500, which is the lowest in 10 years. It is also far lower than the all-time peak of 19,894 in February 2008 that occurred following the triple slayings and arson at the home of the Petit family in Cheshire. Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her two daughters were killed, and Steven Hayes has been convicted in their killings. A second defendant, Joshua Komisarjevsky, is still facing trial later this year.

In a similar fashion, Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced in December 2009 that she would be closing a minimum-security prison in Cheshire. Like Gates, Webster was known as a Level 2 facility on a scale where Level 5 is maximum security.

Rell's recommendation was surprising at the time because it marked a sharp contrast from the days when Connecticut was building prisons and rapidly expanding the amount of space to house convicted criminals. No prisons had been closed in recent state history at that time.

Rell had ordered the correction department to come up with a recommendation for potentially closing a prison - a highly controversial step because it potentially involved moving both convicted criminals and staff members that range from first-year union members to the warden.

"We face an extraordinarily difficult budget situation - a challenge unlike any we have known in modern memory," Rell said at the time in 2009. "The state prison population is currently about 18,300, down from nearly 19,900 in February 2008. While other states - including states facing even more severe budget problems than our own - are being forced to build new prisons, we can make the most of our successes by building on these achievements.''

Rell continued, "Any decision such as this must always be made with public safety foremost in our minds. The recommendation from DOC notes that closing a minimum security facility is easier to accomplish because any inmates that need to be moved can be shifted to higher-security locations if necessary. The closure can also be accomplished without laying off any of the dedicated DOC staff, who perform one of the most dangerous - yet most necessary - tasks in state government."

The inmates were moved to other prisons, rather than being released early.

"Governor Rell's decision to close a state prison in a system that is already overcrowded with inmates and understaffed with front-line workers does not make sense,'' Dwayne Bickford, president of AFSCME Local 387, said at the time. "We believe Connecticut's prison system was set up to handle 15,000 inmates but currently houses more than 18,000 inmates. Overcrowding is dangerous. It leads to higher incidents of assault on correctional staff and between inmates.''

Webster, which opened its doors at 111 Jarvis St. in Cheshire in October 1990, had already been partially closed as the state had shut down two of the four units. As such, about 220 inmates needed to be transferred - rather than the full capacity.

The recommendation said that the prison should be closed except for a separate building that is called the Webster Annex. The annex would then be run in conjunction with the Cheshire Correctional Institution. Even though the recommendation called for the prison to be closed, Rell had said that it would be reopened if necessary - due to a jump in crime or a higher level of convictions.

Lawlor, one of the legislature's leading authorities on criminal justice, said in 2009 that the shutdown would not be difficult.

"There are no cells in there,'' Lawlor said of Webster. "People find that hard to picture. No prison cells at all. No bars. No nothing. Minimum security. If [the supermax in Somers] is filled with the worst of the worst, Webster is filled with the least of the least.''

The closure was possible because the number of inmates has plummeted since a peak that followed the tragic murders in Cheshire on July 23, 2007.

The recommendation offered a budget-cutting option that Rell had once hoped to avoid. Such a move was never necessary during good economic times as the state was actually expanding its prisons. But as the inmate population has dropped and state tax collections remained weak, Rell ordered the Department of Correction to make its recommendation.

Closing a prison is a sensitive issue because it raises potential questions of safety for the inmates and a reshuffling of prison guards.

The prison population exploded by about 1,200 after Rell froze the parole system following the triple homicide in Cheshire. Two longtime criminals who were out on parole at the time are now facing the death penalty if convicted in the slayings of three members of the Pettit family in a crime that shocked the state and caused the legislature to make changes in the state criminal justice system in a special session.

Lawlor says that closing prisons is part of a national trend as the number of inmates has decreased. Governors in California, Texas, and Kansas have moved to close prisons, and New York State has shut down prisons in recent years.

In a large system with thousands of employees, the turnover is so high that no layoffs would be necessary in the shutdown of Gates. The need for overtime would also be reduced with fewer inmates. The prison system had 18 facilities before the two shutdowns and a budget of about $700 million a year.

The all-time high population in the prisons was 19,894 inmates on Feb. 1, 2008, according to the correction department. That number has since fallen sharply, allowing the shutdowns to be considered.

GREAT JOB GOVERNOR CLOSING ANOTHER PRISON RELEASING MORE CONVICTS INTO THE STREET, JUST IN TIME FOR SUMMER. ALL TO SAVE MONEY WHICH AFTER THEY REOFFEND THERE WON'T BE MUCH IN SAVINGS. THEN YOU'LL HAVE TO REOPEN A PRISON WITH HUNDREDS OF VICTIMS LEFT IN THEIR WAKE. ALSO, AFTER LAYING OFF DOZENS OF HARD WORKING EMPLOYEES THE DOC'S TOP BRASS IS HOLDING A PROMOTIONAL EVENT THIS WEEK FOR WARDENS, DEPUTY WARDENS, AND DISTRICT ADMINISTRATORS. THATS REAL CLASSY AFTER LOWER LEVEL EMPLOYEES GOT PINK SLIPS. WHY NOT TAKE THE STATE POLICE ROUTE AND CANCEL THE EVENT OUT OF RESPECT FOR THE ONE'S YOU LAID OFF. OR DON'T AND GO ON BUSINESS AS USUAL.

Why not put the prisoners in the technical high schools that will be closed as a result of "Plan B"? That way, rather than apply, and comply with rigid rules and adhere to a work ethic, kids can break the law, and get a quality education at the same time!

>> It's one of the cheaper-to-run prisons,'' Lawlor told Capitol Watch on Wednesday afternoon. "There are no cells in there. Half is like a college dormitory with big, open rooms and bunk beds. It's a minimum-security prison.<<

Of course the state of CT is going to close the most efficient and cheapest-to-run prison is the system. That makes sense to me.

To put this in perspective 200 of the inmates are prisoners with multiple DWIs without fatalaties or serious property damage. Fat mortgage brokers caught driving home after chasing Sally at happy hour and having a few too many too many times in 10 years.

Wasn't there a period of time when CT was shipping prisoners to other states? Wouldn't the prudent course of action be to offer this service to other states in order to increase revenue? This way we could decrease the deficit as well as keep these facilities open should they become necessary in the future.

The DOC IS A MONEY PIT, you want to save $$$ get rid of the fat cat leaders in that Dept and lower the 100,000$ year admin salaries, that's a good start, The Commissioner M Murphy retired with a huge pension not to mention now he is Rhode Islands problem advising them how great he is, this is a joke Malloy GET REAL AND DO YOUR JOB OR YOU TAKE A OINK SLIP!!!

Something like 3 prisoners in 10 years wandered off the Bergin Premises and went AWOL. It's a short-term, end-of-stay prison and most there just want to get on with their lives.

Many are waiting for half-way houses or serving 3 months on a DWI after serving 30 days at Hartford or elsewhere. Some couldn't afford bail or fees so they have to work it off at $75 a day or whatever the current rate is. Many are on 60-day probation violations for missing an appointment or drug counseling meeting. Missing 1 or 2, I might add.

In reality no one much cares if these people are in jail or in half-way houses or doing the weekend thing or sitting home with a bracelet or better yet--working and paying fines via wage garnishment.

Back to Bergin. You need to get into the expense of fencing and then adding razor wire around the whole place to keep 3 goofs from wandering off over 10 years.

There's nothing I hate more than "shot yourself in the foot" law and order types.

You people don't know anything. Bergin is where people go when they are sentenced and have a low security level. It doesn't have to do with the amount of time left to serve because I know people in there with 4 years left still. And many prisoners do 30 or 60 day sentences at all the other prisons.